If you are to err, err on the side of caution.  Just try not to err $500 million on the side of caution.

This is the size of the "math error" committed by The Energy Department in its cost analysis of the FutureGen coal plant, a mistake which ultimately led to the shelving of the project.

What makes this error even more psycho is that it seems to be based on an assumption by the Department of Energy that the construction costs for the plant would possibly double during the time of construction.  Once again, we here at Coal Energy Now may not be math majors, but we can state quite confidently that inflation will not go up by 100% in the time that it takes to build FutureGen.

The project's restoration is under consideration by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

Source:
Gaffe could revise plans for innovative coal plant at Google News.

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the Bush Administration's Environmental Protection Agency regarding the exemption of coal-fired power plants from the Clean Air Act. According to The New York Times this effectively paves the way for new regulations on emissions from the coal plants.

A petition granted by the Environmental Protection Agency calls for a review of a memorandum that disallows carbon dioxide emissions to be considered in the federal approval process for power plants.

Read the article in the New York Times.

Alliant Energy Corp. has seen its plans for a coal-fired power plant in Iowa rendered unworkable as a result of profit and cost caps imposed by the Iowa Utilities Board.

Read the release on JSOnline.